Perhaps you’ve seen one of these signs next to a small wire bin. They’re appearing around the island. I saw this one on the lawn in front of the State Library at the corner of King and Punchbowl. We pass one every afternoon at the bus stop across from the Hygienic Store in Kahaluu.

They are part of Eating in Public (www.nomoola.com), and have their own blog.

It’s all part of a larger project by UH professors Gaye Chan and Nandita Sharma. Interesting, fun, and thought provoking.

From the Star-Bulletin’s report today on the latest round of the budget battle:

For workers represented by United Public Workers union and HGEA, the layoffs would take at least three months. It would take various periods of time, up to one year, before members of the Hawaii State Teachers Association and University of Hawaii Professional Assembly could be dismissed.

As I noted here a couple of days ago, University of Hawaii Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw issued a statement last week which included this comment:

Unfortunately, these reductions have resulted in approximately 150 members of our faculty and staff not being renewed for their positions at this time.

It looks to me like she’s saying, in essence, that there have already been 150 layoffs on the Manoa campus. This is consistent with an earlier report that some staff had been terminated.

So why haven’t mainstream news reports recognized that layoffs have already begun?

I also noticed House Speaker Calvin Say’s comment quoted in today’s Advertiser:

State House Speaker Calvin Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Wilhelmina Rise), said Lingle has options beyond resorting to layoffs. He said Lingle could impose spending restrictions, call lawmakers back into special session if she believes there needs to be an immediate response on the budget, or wait until the next session in January and work with lawmakers on a solution.

“At this point, there is no urgency,” Say said. “There is a deficit and she has to go through what her administrative responsibilities are. She can implement more restrictions. She can implement whatever she has to do financially, or she could make a request for a special session to call us back. But she has to have her proposals in hand.“

This again highlights the legislature’s unhappiness at Lingle’s failure to actually submit a fully formed budget proposal during this past session, which forced lawmakers to fill in the gaps. It’s not the way the system is designed to work, and certainly not the way the legislature prefers (or is structured to) act.

Lingle talked about a balanced budget but never actually submitted one will all the blanks filled in. Now she seems to be doing the same thing with contract talks, pressing the unions to come up with a solution on their side.

Meanwhile, the legislature doesn’t have to wait for the governor to call them back for a special session. Here’s what the State Constitution has to say (Article III, Section 10):

At the written request of two-thirds of the members to which each house is entitled, the presiding officers of both houses shall convene the legislature in special session. At the written request of two-thirds of the members of the senate, the president of the senate shall convene the senate in special session for the purpose of carrying out its responsibility established by Section 3 of Article VI. The governor may convene both houses or the senate alone in special session.

One reader shared a very cynical interpretation of Lingle’s preference for furloughs over layoffs, suggesting that layoffs will take a bigger bite out of Lingle’s past patronage, since those in appointed positions (no union or civil service protections) and those with less seniority (hired during Lingle’s term) are most vulnerable to layoffs.

It seems to me that by this time, economists could have applied their computer models to the different alternative approaches to the needed budget cuts, comparing the costs of Lingle’s extreme 3-days per month furlough plan, her layoff scheme, various tax increases, and various mixtures. Furloughs will take a big bite out of the consuming middle class, which will reverberate through the economy. Tax increases are, well, less than popular. But the immediate and longer term impacts can be predicted.

So far, I haven’t seen such an analysis, although hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

And here are a few more Kaaawa dogs. I’m working through my backlog of dog photos after noticing that I hadn’t done a real dog gallery in a couple of months. Cats have their regular Fridays, while dogs tend to get pushed aside by other news.

Anyway, this is Ms. Pili, who was initially quite shy but has become a fan of our morning routine. Just click for more.